Bicycle Tire Terms and Concepts Part 1 of 2
Most of the bicycles ridden today are have a 700c and 26″ or better know as MTB/Mountain Bike Tires. 29′er is actually the same size a 700c in bead diameter. Most of the tires are Clincher tires with a tube in side the tires the other option is a tubular also know as a sew-up, with these you have to glue them onto a tubular rim. The tube is sewed into the tires. So the bread down look like this :
Clincher Tire:
-Open Casing
-”Bead” is embedded at the edge
-Seats into the rim’s inner seam (sometimes you will hear someone say “Hook Rims”)
-Rigid (wire) or Folding (nylon) bead
Tubular Tire :
-Tire casing encloses the tube
-Glue, tape or both to affix tire to rim
-Special tubular rim, less weight
-Higher performance, fewer pinch flat, better ride quality and over all much safer
So which way should you go? over all I think the tubular is the best and safest however changing tires can be a bit of a pain but certainly not a difficult. May of the tubular that to not have the rubber cement dry layer on them can us Tufo’s gluing tape and it works super great and make the whole process a snap. Gluing can take a few days to do it correctly. Also with tubular their are several great tire sealants that will seal up the tubular tires. Tufo, Stans, Vittoria and a few others are offer great sealant options.
Clinchers are much more covenant and the technology on the higher end tires are getting closer to the ride/feeling of a tubular tire. The one thing that I do not like about clinchers is when a tube pops, in most cases your going to kiss the pavement, usually you have to be moving a good speed or going down a large hill or mountain road.
